In a D2D communication network, a terminal identifies neighboring terminals that are adjacent geometrically and establishes a radio link with one of the identified neighboring terminals, if needed, to communicate data. Such a procedure is performed between the terminals in a distributed manner without assistance of other network nodes and thus, the D2D communication is advantageous in commercialization without extra infrastructure as compared to other wireless communication networks.
In addition, the D2D communication keeps data traffic locally so as to avoid traffic overload at a base station and an Access Point (AP). For this reason, the standardization organizations, such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), are standardizing D2D communication based on the Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) and Wi-Fi technologies, and many companies are developing D2D communication technologies independently.
In the D2D communication network, the terminals need to establish D2D links among each other autonomously without assistance of any base station or AP for data communications. In order to accomplish this, a distributed link scheduling method for determining radio resource and transmission timing on the plural D2D links influences the throughput of the D2D network significantly.
Recently, some network operators have proposed a distributed link scheduling method designed in consideration of a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) on the links through a single-tone search signal exchange based on an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal structure in the synchronized radio environment. This method determines the transmission on each link in consideration of a predicted signal interference amount instead of a carrier detecting result, and this makes it possible to support simultaneous transmission on the plural D2D links, resulting in improvement of D2D communication throughput.
However, this technology is optimized for the single communication and thus, limited in range of D2D communication as compared to the ad hoc technologies of the related art.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for establishing two-hop links and scheduling the two-hop links for supporting two-hop link communication in a D2D communication network including radio communication terminals.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.